“Don’t Tax Toys”: Join Our Fight Against Trump’s Tariffs #DontTaxToys

May 14, 2019 | The Toy Association is leading industry advocacy efforts to aggressively oppose President Trump’s proposal of a 25 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports, including toys.

The move comes days after the president raised the duty rate to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports that were already subject to 10 percent tariffs.

In a statement, Steve Pasierb, president & CEO of The Toy Association, expressed the industry’s strong opposition to tariffs:

“The return of a dark tariff cloud threatening the toy and retail communities would sharply increase the cost of toys and cause irreparable harm to companies of all sizes – particularly American small businesses,” Pasierb said. “We have not relented in our fight against the threat of tariffs and will continue to push back aggressively on these damaging tactics that amount to nothing more than a tax on American families and their children and will lead to projected losses of tens of thousands of U.S. jobs. To be clear, China is not paying these tariffs; rather, American families and U.S. companies are, through higher consumer prices and decreased profits. We support fair and free trade that protects American intellectual property, our workers and businesses. This all-out trade war is the wrong approach.”

The Toy Association remains fully active opposing these tariffs and continues to lead industry advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and with the administration to raise awareness of the damaging impact that tariffs would have on American toy companies, jobs, and consumers. The Association is working closely with the multi-industry nationwide coalition, Americans for Free Trade, and has re-engaged PR firm Hogan Lovells to develop an aggressive media plan that will reinforce the toy community’s core messages on this front.

Join Our Industry’s Fight

Contact your local congressman and senators to inform them of the harmful impact of tariffs on your company. Sending this grassroots letter takes just a minute. Please forward it to everyone in your company, so they can add their voice to the fight.

Join the Americans for Free Trade coalition at americansforfreetrade.com. Scroll down and provide your information in the online form – it’s free to join and will help strengthen coalition efforts.

The Toy Association continues to collect feedback from toy companies to determine the impact that tariffs would have on their businesses; input will help strengthen its advocacy and media efforts on this critical issue. Contact Rebecca Mond, vice president of federal government affairs, to share your story.